Teacher accused of kidnapping student being transferred to Tennessee from California

— -- Former Tennessee teacher Tad Cummins, who was discovered last month in a rural California cabin with 15-year-old student Elizabeth Thomas after a month on the run, is in the process of being transferred to Tennessee from California, ABC News has confirmed.

Cummins, 50 -- accused of abducting Thomas -- is facing kidnapping and sex crime charges in Tennessee.

Assistant federal defender Ben Galloway, based in Sacramento, California, told ABC News Wednesday, "I can confirm that he left at about 7:30 on Tuesday evening. I don't have details about his travel -- that information is generally not disclosed."

But he added, "I can only tell you what we have seen in other cases: that the U.S. Marshals transport detainees by bus and plane through county jails, private correctional facilities, and often through the federal transfer center in Oklahoma City."

When asked what Cummins' ETA in Tennessee may be, Galloway said, "He will appear in court in Tennessee shortly after his arrival there. I don't know when that will occur."

Galloway also clarified an erroneous report that described the movement as an extradition. "There was no extradition," he said. "Instead it was a transfer from one federal district to another."